Q&A with BTI Director Claudia Schmidt-Dannert
As the BioTechnology Institute’s new director, longtime faculty member Claudia Schmidt-Dannert aims to plant the institute firmly on the front lines of emerging needs and opportunities.
Synthetic Cells and Biofactories
Kate Adamala and the Build-a-Cell consortium look to synthetic biology for insight into the origins of life and a source for vital raw materials.
The DNA Solution
The exploding yeast and fluorescent fish are interesting, for sure. But for Michael Smanski, the real attraction of synthetic biology is the chance to work at the cusp of a new era in biology—one that holds promise for improving food production, medical care, climate change adaptation, pollution cleanup and more.
Building New Metabolic Pathways
Microbes are nothing if not industrious. The metabolic pathways (linked series of chemical reactions) in these tiny organisms lead them to crank out a wide variety of molecules for all sorts of purposes — and that’s what has Mike Freeman’s attention.
A Helpful Fungus Among Us
Some experts estimate that there are over two million species of fungi living on Earth today. Excellent scavengers and nutrient recyclers, many fungi also gather materials from their surroundings and can even capture and store environmental contaminants.
Tapping the Talents of Enzymes
BTI researchers are working to discover, understand, and improve our ability to enlist the help of molecules that catalyze life.
Understanding a Toxic Necessity
Jannell Bazurto, assistant professor of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Minnesota, is pursuing a better understanding of formaldehyde, a chemical that is carcinogenic, toxic, and produced by all living things.
BTI-NAIST Exchange Marks 15 Years
Tim Montgomery Following a visit to Minnesota by three Japanese graduate students from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), a group of four Minnesota graduate students from the BioTechnology Institute (BTI) visited Japan in mid-October. Chris Flynn, Grayson Wawrzyn, Jessica...
A Rewarding Experience in Japan
by Tim Montgomery Janice Frias, Katherine Volzing, Chad Satori and Josh Ochocki visited Japan this past November as part of the BioTechnology Institute's ongoing exchange program with the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST). They travelled to Japan with returning exchange students...
Departments
BioTechnology Institute The BioTechnology Institute is the central University of Minnesota vehicle for coordinated research in the biological, chemical, and engineering aspects of biotechnology. more >> Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering The Department of Bioproducts and...
Grant Programs
Cyanuric Acid - Melamine Biocatalysis Project: Fundamental Science and Business Opportunities PIs: Lawrence Wackett, Michael Sadowsky, Steve Heilmann Emphasis has evolved from swimming pool clean-up to food safety. Progress includes development of an enzyme-based kit to test foods. more >>...
The Fight for Safer Food
To confront the threat of persistent foodborne pathogens, Steve Bowden turns to novel techniques.
A Micro Lens on a Macroscopic Question
A Q&A with PhD Candidate Anna Bennett
Synthesizing Sustainability
UMN scientists produce high-value beta-lactones from waste for use in antibiotic and anti-cancer therapies.
Engineering a self-cleaning environment
UMN researchers create self-cleaning Biohubs to mitigate the impact of pollutants in Minnesota’s waterways
Minnesota Lakes in Peril
UMN researchers use DNA technology to track fecal contamination in Minnesota waters
Saving Little Brown Myotis
Can native microbes help protect Minnesota’s bat population from the deadly white-nose bat syndrome?
Advancing Biotech Byte by Byte
How computational biology is solving the big data dilemma, one question at a time. Plus Q&A's with Dan Knights and Chad Myers When you log onto Facebook, your profile provides the company with a truckload of data about you — where you hang out, what you “Like”, and who your friends are. What’s...
Insights from our Insides, a Q&A with Dan Knights
We are what we eat but there’s also a host of microbes living in our guts that help us make the most of all that food. Computational Biologist, Dan Knights investigates the dynamic and rapidly evolving relationship between humans and the bugs living within.
Life? There’s a Map for That. Q&A with Chad Myers
Computational Biologist Chad Myers applies his expertise in leading edge techniques in computer science to the latest genome-scale technologies in order to understand the genetic architecture of life.
Q&A with Michael Freeman
New BTI faculty member translates unknown microbial languages into novel possibilities for biotech. By Colleen Smith Michael Freeman joins the Biotechnology Institute this Spring as a new faculty in the College of Biological Sciences. Hired in the Synthetic Biology Cluster, Freeman specializes in...
Fungal Pests Reassessed
Some fungi have developed a bad reputation as pests eating wood from the buildings where people live and work. But BTI researcher Jonathan Schilling is challenging old assumptions and finding new reasons to study the ubiquitous microorganisms.
Science, It’s What’s for Dinner
If it’s on the shelf at the grocery store, it must be safe to eat… right? Hopefully, that answer is yes. Yet a dazzling array of microorganisms — not all of them friendly — enjoy human grub in our gastrointestinal tracts as much as we do. How can science help to guarantee the safety of our foods and bodies against an army of opportunist bugs?
Bio-machines and Nanospheres
Imagine for a moment, the conditions necessary to sustain life. What comes to mind? Water? Oxygen? Sunlight? Think again. Many of the world’s smallest organisms have evolved and adapted to live under extreme conditions where these basic building blocks are scarce or absent altogether.
In the News
The science behind Minnesota mining. MnDRIVE grant recipient Nate Johnson is quoted. MPR News U of M explores link between antibiotics, adult diseases. Dan Knights, a computational biologist, is quoted. Star Tribune Cracking medical mysteries with math. Dan Knights featured. University of...
Managing Microbes in Brazil’s Agricultural South
BTI Director travels to Brazil to mentor students researching bioremediation of agriculture chemicals. BY ALLISON KRONBERG BTI Director Michael Sadowsky understands both French and Spanish, but hardly a word of Portuguese. Yet this summer he launched a two-year collaborative research initiative in...
Primordial Peptides
UMN researcher Burckhard Seelig wins the prestigious Simons Investigator Award and joins the Collaboration on the Origins of Life University of Minnesota researcher Burckhard Seelig (BMBB, BTI) has a longstanding interest in how the earliest forms of life may have come into existence. This year,...
BTI Faculty Members Dan Knights and Kechun Zhang Named 2015-2017 McKnight Land-Grant Professors
Please join us in congratulating Assistant Professors Dan Knights and Kechun Zhang, who were among the eight recipients of the 2015-2017 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship. The award is designed to advance the careers of promising junior faculty members who demonstrate the potential to make...
BTI’s Kechun Zhang recognized as an Early Innovator at the University of Minnesota’s Innovation awards.
Kechun Zhang (BTI, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science) was recognized on December 11th as an Early Innovator for his work developing a scalable, biodegradable, sugar-based rubber. A potential substitute for petroleum-based products, the biosynthetic rubber could appear in a variety of...
Mike Smanksi joins the BioTechnology Institute as assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics.
Mike Smanski joins the University of Minnesota from MIT, where he developed new strategies for engineering multi-gene systems as an HHMI Fellow of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Hired as part of the Synthetic Biology Cluster, Mike's research focuses on natural product discovery and...
Linda Kinkel, Professor of Plant Pathology, joins BTI
On the move: structural microbiologist Carrie Wilmot moves to St. Paul, joins BTI
A new research home in St. Paul is bringing longtime CBS faculty member Carrie Wilmot exciting new opportunities for collaboration. For Carrie Wilmot, it’s all about the molecules. Wilmot, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics and the newest member of the...
Flask crowd
Will Harcombe’s fascination with evolution and ecosystem function adds a dynamic dimension to the quest to better understand — and tap the power of — the microorganisms in our lives. “Community” means different things to different people. To an urban planner, it’s a neighborhood bustling with...
Palm trees and population genetics
Professor Anthony Dean talks about his part-time faculty appointment in Southern China. Tony Dean (EEB/BTI) recently accepted a part-time post at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, where he will set up a second research lab in addition to his current lab at the University of Minnesota....
BTI members recognized for excellence at home and abroad
Romas Kazlauskas brings experience from World Class University Project home to Minnesota This summer Romas Kazlauskas (BTI/ Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics) completed a 5-year collaboration with Seoul National University on lignin biorefinery as part of the World Class University...
BTI’s Graduate Degree in Microbial Engineering welcomes new students and director
As Daniel Bond (BTI/Microbiology) takes over as the Graduate Degree in Microbial Engineering’s (MicE) Director of Graduate Studies, the program also welcomes two new students Komal Joshi, a native of India, and Stephen Michel from Laramie, Wyoming. Joshi holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in...
Dan Knights joins BTI
The BioTechnology Institute welcomes Dan Knights, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Dan received his PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder, with a certificate in Interdisciplinary Quantitative Biology from the University’s BioFrontiers Institute....
Brandy Toner joins the BioTechnology Institute
An Assistant Professor in the Department of Soil, Water and Climate, Brandy earned her PhD from the University of California-Berkley and completed a postdoctorate fellowship at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Her research at the University of Minnesota focuses on microbe-mineral...
Chad Myers joins the BioTechnology Institute
Chad Myers, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, joined the BioTechnology Institute in 2013. Chad earned his PhD from the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University in the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics. Myers’ research focuses...
Scaling Biotech in Minnesota
Every visit to the BioTechnology Institute features a tour of the Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC), the institute’s 4700 square foot R&D and contract services center. The BRC has grown from humble beginnings in the basement of the Gortner Lab into a state-of-the-art pilot plant performing fermentation process development, recombinant protein expression and downstream processing for clients within the University and beyond.
Celebrating its 27th year in 2013, the Biotechnology Resource Center (BRC) continues to support research at the University while serving as a resource for Minnesota’s biotech industry. Up to 80% of its business comes from Life Science companies ranging from one-person start-ups to some of the biggest names in the biotechnology business.
Income from fermentation services for outside companies helps the BRC fulfill its mission of providing services to the University community at cost, including new equipment and services like a French Press Extruder a Golan press, a Microfluidizer and 550L fermentation tank. Expertise provided by BRC fermentation manager Fred Schendel and his team help scientists involved in basic research develop methodologies for producing molecules at pilot scale—often producing batches of biological compounds at near commercial scale.
Going Global
BTI Annouces new 5-year academic exchange agreement with Osaka University’s Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research Building on the success of its academic exchange programs with the Nara Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (Nara, Japan), BTI recently announced a new 5-year...
The 3rd Dimension
BTI Researchers test 3-D printing technology to scale up—and down
BTI’s Wei-Shou HU spearheads new consortium to speed drug development from Chinese Hamster Ovary cell lines
Distinguished McNight Professor Wei-Shou Hu (BTI/CEMS) is leading a new Consortium for Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell Systems Biotechnology formed under the auspices of the Society of Biological Engineering. This new consortium of seven pharmaceutical companies from USA, Europe and Japan is built upon...
Gary Muehlbauer named distinguished McKnight Professor
BTI member Gary Muehlbauer, was recently named a Distinguished McKnight Professor. This award is granted to outstanding faculty members who have recently made the transition to full professor status. Muehlbauer is head of the Department of Plant Biology, and is also a part of the Department of...
Kechun Zhang joins the BioTechnology Institute
Kechun Zhang BTI/Chemical Engineering and Materials Science BTI welcomes Kechun Zhang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Zhang completed his PhD in chemistry at the California Institute of Technology and his postdoctorate fellowship at the...
Synthetic Ecology at BTI
New Funding extends BTI’s Synthetic Ecology Initiative In July 2013, the BioTechnology Institute announced a third round of funding for its Synthetic Ecology Initiative, supported by the President’s Initiative on Biocatalysis with funding from Office of the Vice President for Research. The...
Newsmakers
May 16, 2012 University of Minnesota startup to treat challenging bacterial infection Current treatments often compound problem, potentially making infection lethal A live biological preparation developed by University of Minnesota researchers could put a stop to an increasingly prevalent,...
Yeast study yields insights into origin of multicellular life
Yeast study yields insights into origin of multicellular life Researchers in the BioTechnology Institute (BTI), lead by faculty member Michael Travisano, have demonstrated how multicellular organisms can evolve from single-celled individuals. This important transition has long been a mystery to...
Predicting how Microbes Will Work Together
Researchers working with BTI faculty members Yiannis Kaznessis and Claudia Schmidt-Dannert have devised a way to accurately predict growth and behavior of synthetic ecological systems - engineered relationships between different organisms that don't occur in nature. The predictions are based on...
Synthetic Ecology Symposium
The synthetic ecology theme of the University of Minnesota Biocatalysis Initiative was highlighted in an April 20th symposium featuring keynote addresses by Douglas Weibel of the University of Wisconsin and Allan Konopka of the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory...
Renewable Petroleum
U of M researchers close in on technology for making renewable "petroleum" using bacteria, sunlight and carbon dioxide. University of Minnesota researchers are a key step closer to making renewable petroleum fuels using bacteria, sunlight and carbon dioxide, a goal funded by a $2.2 million United...
Balancing the Body’s Bacterial Ecosystems
Bacteria living in the digestive tract – especially in the colon - can have a tremendous impact on human health and quality of life. Research has shown that a number of diseases – including diabetes and bowel dysfunctions such as colitis - are associated with changes in bacteria that live in the...
Protein Microcompartments Open New Possibilities in Biocatalytic Engineering
After observing protein compartments in certain bacteria that could isolate enzyme reactions, a team of University researchers worked to reproduce these reaction-containing microcompartments in a non-native host organism. Their goal was to create small bioreactors – nanobioreactors – within cells...
Sadowsky Named Director of the BioTechnology Institute
Michael Sadowsky, a recognized authority on using microorganisms to clean up the environment, has been appointed director of the BioTechnology Institute (BTI) effective September 1, 2010. Sadowsky, who is a professor in the University’s Department of Soil, Water and Climate and co-director of the...
BTI retreat is opportunity to meet and learn
An October 6th retreat was the opportunity for BioTechnology Institute (BTI) faculty and their lab members to learn more about each other and about the broad range of disciplines and applications encompassed by their collective research. It was also the first chance many had to hear from some of...
Kaznessis Discusses Synthetic Biology on Radio
Professor Yiannis Kaznessis explained the benefits and perils of synthetic biology during an interview for Access Minnesota. The interview is broadcast by nearly 40 radio stations. Kaznessis commented on the recent 'creation' a living cell from DNA that was synthesized in a lab by scientists in...
Wackett research team wins $2.2 million stimulus grant to explore production of hydrocarbons using bacteria
The U.S. Department of Energy has selected 37 projects for major federal stimulus funding through their Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) venue to pursue breakthrough energy research. BioTechnology Institute faculty member Larry Wackett is lead investigator for a University of Minnesota team which will receive $2.2 million in funding to explore production of liquid hydrocarbon transportation fuels directly from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide using bacteria.
Coal from Algae Study Published
The results of a BioTechnology Institute (BTI) sponsored study on the potential for producing coal from algae were recently published online in ScienceDirect. The study focused on research conducted by Dr. Steve Heilmann at BTI utilizing hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), a wet process that...
Major funding awarded for research effort aimed at developing enzyme testing for food contaminants
The National Center for Food Protection and Defense, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence, recently awarded $1 million to a group of researchers headed by Larry Wackett, Distinguished McKnight University Professor with the BioTechnology Institute. The grant was made for the...
BTI-industry collaboration leads to development of field test to detect melamine in milk
(Source: College of Biological Sciences news release) Larry Wackett and Michael Sadowsky, members of the University of Minnesota’s BioTechnology Institute, developed an enzyme that is used in Bioo Scientific’s new MaxDiscovery™ Melamine Test kit, which simplifies the detection of melamine...